02.22.2005:Hunter S. Thompson Kills Himself

 

Christian Thompson/Reuters from nytimes.com:

By MICHELLE O'DONNELL

Hunter S. Thompson, the maverick journalist and author whose savage chronicling of the underbelly of American life and politics embodied a new kind of nonfiction writing he called "gonzo journalism," died yesterday in Colorado. Tricia Louthis, of the Pitkin County Sheriff's Office, said Mr. Thompson had died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound at his home in Woody Creek, Colo., yesterday afternoon. He was 67.

Hunter S. Thompson 1937-1965

     An audio tribute by Lori Braun

from salon.com: Feb. 21, 2005 | If artists are the uninsulated emotional conductors for the rest of society, Thompson was a one-man power-grid of paranoia, revulsion and defiance. He was a canary in our collective coal mine, an ulcer on our societal tongue, a warning. He was physically a big and strong enough man to recklessly embody the idea that we should all Beware of Where We Are Headed. A shuddering red flag.